Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

The theme of this year's Dum Dum Bangur Avenue Pratirodh Bahini Durga Puja is the historical drama of Dinabandhu Mitra 'Neel Darpan'. By this way, they'll pay honour to history of Bengali Drama, as well as will recall the protests and battle of Bengal's farmers against British rule. Neel Darpan was first published in the year 1860. So, 2010 was the year of its centenary. And for the first time, a total Durga Puja pandal will be dedicated to a drama. Total aspect of this drama would be depicted within the area of 17,097 sqft. The organisers brought 'Neel' dana from Bengaluru and a Neel Kuthi will be erected on the model of Kuthi, existing at a small village of Bangladesh. Total 25 models (as seen in the picture) will depict the story of 'Neel Darpan'. The organisers have started to cultivate paddy since last March. Moreover, the canal beside the paddy field, other plants and trees would also be there. The idol of goddess Durga will be an...

On 1 September 2012, the new institution 'Udaan' for photography will be opened in Kolkata. It is the brain-child of Arka Dutta - the winner of 2004 'Picture or the year' of World Press Photography, and nominee or 2005 Pulitzer. Udaan would be the new horizon for would be photographers to learn better photography with digital speed by practical classes at Ballygunge Circular Road. There would be basic course and the total classes are only six. And the advance course would complete within five weeks. All the classes will be held on Saturdays and Sundays. But the workshops will run throughout the week. Certificates will be given to the students after each curriculum. So many students of Mumbai branch are now absorbed in BBC, DNA etc. -- A. B.

As seen in the picture, the fans of superstar Shah Rukh Khan are crossing the river Leader hurriedly to see SRK on the spot of Kashmir where he is now busy with the shooting of veteran Yash Chopra's last directorial venture "Untitled Love Story". Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma are on the opposite of SRK. Shah Rukh Khan will shoot for this week there. -- A. B.

Koel Mullick, the Tollywood star will marry on 1 February, she declared it herself on the spot of campaign of her upcoming film 'Dashami' at south Kolkata on last Tuesday. She disclosed that, it is no more gossip, she'll really marry Rane Nispal Singh, the son of Surinder Singh of Surinder Films. Koel's upcoming movie 'Paglu 2' is slated for release on 31 August, 2012. -- A. B.

About 120 pujas will be held at Salt Lake. AK Block: It is their silver jubilee year and their theme is, conservation of environment. Artist: Bapai Sen. BJ Block: Their theme is Rajbari of 322 year's old Sutanuti. Height of the idol is: 27 ft. Artist: Pradip Rudrapaul. IB Block: It is their 29 year's puja and the theme is Dasla Tribe of Assam. Artist: Parimal Paul of Art College. -- A. B.

It is the picture of 10 ft high 'Rakta-Beej' demon under progress by iron rods and pieces of tins, the demon will carry weapons of cloaning - structure of DNA. Malpractice of it may endanger the life. So, the theme of Shib Mandir this year is : 'Stop human cloaning'. Theme-maker: Subrata Bandyopadhyay. -- A. B.

87th birth anniversary of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar would be celebrated on 3 September 2012 by Shilpi Sansad at Rabindra Sadan. The function will start at 5 pm. Tickets: 150, 100, 80, 60 and will be available at hall from today (12-7). Eminent singers, artists of Tollywood will perform at the programme to pay homage to the matinee idol of Bengalee . -- A. B.

Barisha Tarun Tirtho would be decorated by the union of festivity, fair and colour. And fair means 'Nagardola' - the favourite of common Bengalee. So, the theme-maker Bishwanath Dey has chosen the theme Nagardola, as this year's theme. Iron, wood, bamboo and colour are the elements by which the puja pandal would be erected. Various types of Nagardola and Dolna would be made there to attract visitors. At the first step, revolving Nagardola would be there to attract people. This type of Nagardola can be seen only in Singapore and Indonesia. At the second step, there would be a Nagardola made of woods, visitors may ride on it. At the last stage, there would be a Nagardola like a revolving Nat Mandir. Devi Durga would be on the horn of Mahisasur, which might be illustrated as swinging goddess riding on Nagardola. Only the Trishul of Devi Durga would be there as weapons. All the area will take the form of village fair, with a soft and beautiful atmosphere of festi...

27 August is the birthday of legendary singer Mukesh. The city of Kolkata observed the day with several functions throughout the day. Mukesh Lovers Association will organise a musical programme at Rotary Sadan of Kolkata on 2 September in which, Srikanta Acharya and Saikat Mitra will sing popular hit songs of Mukesh there. In this context, it is to be noted that, 29 August is the death anniversary of this legendary singer of all time. -- A. B.

The organisers of this year's Durga puja are seeking human faces of goddess Durga, instead of traditional daaker saaj murti. -- A. B.

57th release date of Satyajit Ray's masterpiece Pather Panchali was celebrated in the city yesterday. The film was released on 26 August 1955 in various cinema halls of Kolkata and within a week, it became the talk of the town with both favourable and unfavorable comments. But the world soon realised that it was a milestone of Indian cinema and thus, appreciations came from every corner of the globe, the film attained so many prizes from all the famous film festivals. Yesterday, Ganamadhyam Kendra and Calcutta Film Society had organised a seminar on this occasion where, Uma Dasgupta, who played the role of Durga in the film, was presented alongwith veteran film director Mrinal Sen, cinematographer Soumendu Roy, critic Shamik Bandyopadhyay and other personalities were presented. But, Subir Bandyopadhyay, who played the role of Apu, was absent owing to personal reasons. -- A. B.

The lost childhood will be recovered in the puja pandal of Khidirpur Nabarag Sangha. The obsessions of childhood, fear of homework, playing hide & seek, atmosphere of autumn festival would be there, or the sketches on drawing books, colours, expression of a green heart - all the flavours of precious childhood would be there at the puja mandap. So, the theme is 'Aamar Chelebela' (My Childhood). It is the brain-child of theme-maker Shantanu Chattopadhyay. Transparent Japanese clothes 'Tarpedo' will be used to draw and write. Many comic characters would also be there. Moreover, balls, boats, toys, bottles used by kids will also be there.To amuse kids, the lion of goddess Durga will be as Mama and the Asur would also be a comic character. With the help of reflected light, Tarpedo clothes and suitable background music, the puja pandal would be an ideal place to like by the children. -- A. B.

BD Garga's 1963-documentary on Satyajit Ray is all set for screening at Nandan, the West Bengal film centre, this evening. This was the first documentary made on Ray, barely eight years after the release of Pather Panchali. The Kolkata branch of Films Division will screen this rare documentary to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. Another interesting aspect of this documentary is the commentary by Ray himself. He shared in details his ideas on film making in this 35-minute documentary. Garga shot his film when Ray was busy filming his 11th film 'Mahanagar', and the documentary captures various moments of the filming of Mahanagar. The Films Division will keep screening various rare films throughout the year celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema. -- A. B.

Science City of the city of joy attracts lot of visitors everyday. -- A. B.

The 'samadhi sthal' of Mother Teresa in the city was filled with homage, respects, pranams and love by her admirers. -- A. B.

Labpur rail station - it was my everyday place of my childhood. I used to spend every afternoon at this station for the free ride of narrow gauge train of three compartments. The station remains the same as it was four decades ago. I was then a lad of 10 years, who used to sit under the great tree to wait for the narrow gauge line's train (the line of only two feet six inches long) to come. The train used to come with (now obsolete) smoky horizon of steam engine and the compartments were just like three match boxes. I used to board train, standing on the footboard and the train used to move slowly after a long whistle. The train used to run (15 kmph) through the mango forests, beside the backyard of villagers, duck-filled ponds, paddy fields, school buildings, haat-bazaar, or small stream... I used to board off at a junction station and back on the next train. The pleasure was mine... just only mine. A. B.

'Sristi Roop' is the theme of this year's Durga Puja of South Kolkata's Netaji Jatiyo Seba dal. According to mythology, goddess Durga destroyed Mahisasur by attaining power from all the major gods. Here at this puja mandap, the calm and peaceful image of goddess Durga would be viewed by the visitors. The 16 ft high devi Durga would be found in a look of meditation. A land area of 150/50 ft would be used for this purpose. A pond made of concrete is being made here on the ground which will play major role in depiction of the theme. The pandal will be prepared by aluminium foil, fence of bamboo, leaves, iron sheet, tafota cloth and transparent poly cloth. About 1500 bamboos would be used to erect the pandal. The hanging of bamboos of around 70 ft, surely be the main attraction of this puja mandap. And the pool would be the treasure of mystery. The puja is of 62 years. The club authority would inaugurate the puja by some elders of old home on the day of Chatur...

Utsav means festival of colours. And butterfly is the symbol of colours. Now it will be very true for the puja mandap of Naktala Udayan Sangha. Theme-maker Bhabatosh Sutar is making the mandap and idol of goddess Durga this year also. In this 26th year, 80 colourful butterflies will surround the puja mandap. And the story of caterpillar to butterfly would be depicted here. The structure of butterflies are being made of iron. Works of acrylic would be on the clothes covered the irons. Beauty and colour will reign here by the help of due lighting. The main pandal will be of 44 ft high. And the viewers would have illusions that so many butterflies are flying within the kingdom of flowers. The idol of goddess Durga would also be on the backdrop of colourful wings of a butterfly. Ustad Rashid Khan is composing the theme song of this puja. As a whole, Naktala Udayan Sangha is ready to represent a heavenly experience for the viewers. -- A. B.

Crowded Millennium Park in this Festive season. -- A. B. y

Auto Expo & Jewellery Show of international standard would be held for the first time in the city from 6-9 September, 2012 at Milan Mela prangan. 32 automobile companies and 24 jewellery owners will participate in the Mela. Apart from everyday used bikes, cars, commercial cars would also be showed. Jewellers of Poland, Bangkok, Chennai will participate in the fair. Free bike training for kids would be the main attraction of this fair. -- A. B.

Khidirpur Pally Sharadiya Durga Puja 2012 theme is 'Trilok Darshan' - tour of 'pataal, martya & swarga'. The way to reach at the place of goddess Durga is going through pataal and martyalok. To create the real-life paths of 'Trilok', the artists are working day and night under the guidance of theme-maker Sushanta Paul. The paths will be an illusion for the viewers. The pandals will be made of iron, cane, cotton fibre, GI and fibre sheet. The structure of goddess Durga will be made of iron. But the hands of Durga would be devoid of weapons, only the Mahishashur would be stabbed by trishul on head. The pataal or hell would be real-life by the special effects. The martya or earth would be made of green with light and music. The swarg or heaven would like to be a dream with enchantment. To create this atmosphere, blue and white lighting would help. A team of 20-25 workers are gradually creating this theme since June. It is their 71 year's puja. ...

Sandip Roy, son of Satyajit Roy, is making a feature film with four short stories, out of which three by Satyajit Roy and the fourth story was written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. Sandip Roy just completed the shooting of 'Bhoot Bhobishyat' written by Sharadindu at Raipur, a small village near Bolpur of Bengal. And at the same place, started the shooting of next film 'Anath Babur Bhoi' - a short story written by Satyajit Ray. Dwijen Bandyopadhyay is playing the lead role as Anath babu, who is a very interesting character with vast experience of ghosts and haunted houses. The rajbari of Raipur is the haunted house of Raghunathpur as stated in the story. The rajbari is now dilapidated as seen in this picture. It is originally the property of Lord Sinha family, who gave the lands of Bolpur to Tagore family to build Shantiniketan. A road in Kolkata named Lord Sinha Road. However, the stories of this film are purely ghost stories. And Tarini Khuro are the story...

Sanatan Dinda is the theme-maker of this year's Durga Puja of Jodhpur Park 95 Pally. And the theme is 'Ananda'. We often express our feelings with hands, so, thousands of hands will expose the theme which Lalan Fakir had expressed 150 years ago with the immortal lines "aat kuthurir noi darja aanta, tar moddhye moddhye jhorka kata". Work of plaster of Paris is in progress since June. The mondop will be a kind of stage. Rabindra Sangeet would be played on the background. The lightning will be fitted with the harmony of stage. The idol of goddess DURGA would be made of fibre glass. The artist is making the idol inside the club. The only weapon of goddess DURGA will be Trishul here. Durga would be here with an image of softness of beauty. But, no spiritual matter will be there. Other goddesses of devi Durga will be showed here on 'Pot'. Several paintings of Sanatan Dinda will be exhibited on the stage and the paintings would be changed by the mov...

Dum Dum Park Tarun Sangha will tell all this year "Come, I'll adorn you with colours". But the path of life is not always full of roses. There are adversity, jealousy... the battle to go ahead faster. And this tug of war silently snatches our joy, happiness, colours from life. Dum Dum Park Tarun Sangha trying to bring back those days full of colours, joy and happiness. It is their 27th years puja. And the theme is: "Colour, Durga, Festival, Creation, Union". Theme-maker Prashanta Paul's effort will be to expose each word of the theme. But, colour and light will prevail. Total 60 artists are working here day and night to implement the theme. The 32 feet high pandal will be made of bamboo, woods, iron, hay and paper. 1100 pieces of buckets and drums full of colours and paintings would be there as seen in the picture. The idol of goddess DURGA will be made in the form of traditional stone images engraved on the walls of Indian temples. And the or...

A piece of heaven on earth. Peacocks, deers, squirrels, hares are roaming in the Parijat garden of Devraj Indra. And the 20 thousand sqft area of the garden is confiscated with the heavenly trees like Mandar, Kalpataru, Parijat etc., kinds of medicinal plants of the species of panacea. One would have to cross the garden on left and right and enter into the garden's main portion. Parijat garden is the theme of platinum jubilee year Durga Puja of Deshopriyo Park Sarbojanin, south Kolkata. The artistic architecture of Sourastra of Gujarat would be implemented on this puja pandal. A new dimension would be imposed on the creation of Amarabati. This work is now being processed at the workshop of theme-maker Dipak Ghosh. Thermocol is the main item by which the artists will create a piece of heavenly garden. This work has been started in the month of June 2012. Last year, the artist Dipak Ghosh had created a replica of famous Dilwara Temple with his favourite item thermocol,...

People say, Bamakhyapa earned Siddhi on Koushiki Amabassya, so devotees across Bengal has been reached Tarapith temple of Birbhum district to worship during the auspicious period of Amabassya, i.e. from last Thursday to Friday. -- A. B.

Santhals of Purulia district celebrated Hans Parban (Duck Mela) yesterday on the last day of Shraban month during Manasa puja. All the people of their community buy ducks from the vendors. -- A. B.

The tourists of Digha enjoyed very much the tide of Sarasari yesterday. -- A. B.

-- A. B.

Elated Salman fans are watching the movie Ek Tha Tiger today. It is a romantic thriller from Yashraj films. Katrina is the heroine and the viewers enjoying well the chemistry of the pair. The young viewers in the city expressed their excitement with the remarks that it is obviously Salman's best film. Whatever he has done in this film no other hero of Bollywood can do it. -- A. B.

For the first time, in the history of Bengal, Republic-day like parades, tableaus and cultural programs held on Red Road. It was organised by the government of West Bengal. Here is the picture of this colourfull function organized. -- A. B.

The nation is celebrating 66th Independence Day. -- A. B.

Radhanath Shikdar (1813-1870) was the first Bengali scientist. He was the first Bengalee who learnt Newton's theory. He was the director of Calcutta Observatory at Park Street from the year 1852 to 1862. He was the first person who declared that peak no. 15 is the highest peak of the world. Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar (1834-1904) was the first Bengalee who researched in the field of science. He reached almost at the conclusion of the existence of electron before it discovered by J J Thomson. Rambrambha Sannyal (1850-1908) monitored the construction of Calcutta Zoo which was completed in the year 1890. He was a zoologist. Aghornath Chattopadhyay (1850-1915) was a chemist. Pramathanath Basu (1855-1934) was a geologist, and probably the first Indian whose research papers was published on a authentic international science magazine. A few more scientists were born by this time. Jagadish Chandra Basu (1858-1937), Prafulla Chandra Roy (1861-1944), Ashutosh Mukherjee (1864-1924)...

For the first time an egg has been hatched artificially at the Alipore Zoo. The egg hatched on June 28 after being in the incubator for 25 days. A total no. of eggs (10-12) were brought to the hospital in phased manner. Out of 12 eggs only one was fertiised. The artificial method was taken to increase the peacock population in the zoo. Earlier the veterinary doctors carried out trials with three lots of poultry chicken eggs and they succeeded. Now the peachick is in good health and would be displayed after six months. The vety doctor's next venture is hatching of pheasants eggs.

Alpana, or the traditional art of paintings on floor was once upon a time the most cultivated practice of rural Bengal during the period of a vow used to take the housewife particularly in rural areas of Bengal. Those were the tales of eternal rural women expressed through paintings on floor of their houses. The alpanas of rural household somehow depicted the simple wishes and prayer for fertility and longings for wellness. Here are some beautiful examples of paintings of vow used to cultivate rural women. The paintings are of Subachani bratas, footsteps of goddess Laxmi, paddy, lotus, creepy plants, flowers, owls, star, trees, fishes, leaves are the subjects of alpana or painting the floors activities. -- A. B.

Burrabazar is one of the oldest and most busiest business centre of the city. It is situated near the Howrah Bridge. -- A. B.

Rabindranath Thakur - the great poet was born and died in this house at Jorasanko, Kolkata. In the first picture, the room above the portico is the room where the poet lasts his breath. And he used to live in the adjacent room of first floor. A big statue of the poet in black can visible at the right. In the second picture, one can see the statue of Debendra Nath Thakur, father of Rabindranath. And the building of Thakur Bari is now Rabindra Bharati University. -- A. B.

Rabindranath Tagore used the car which is now kept at Jorasanko Thakur Bari. -- A. B.

More and more ilish or hilsa would be found on the dishes of Bengalee because drizzle on bay of Bengal and glad faces of the fishermen. 70-80 tons of hilsa has been found since Friday night. And those are of at least one kg. The fishermen hope that more trawlers on the deep see would catch much more fishes within next 5-6 days.That means more decrease in the price of hilsa and more hilsa for common people. -- A. B.

In the year 1908, on this day, the young revolutionery Khudiram Bose was hanged. He was the first martyr of Indian freedom struggle, born and brought up in Bengal. A Bengali film was made on the basis of his life. A station of Kolkata Metro Rail had been named after him. In this picture you can see the statue of him, situated at the island near Kolkata High Court. The newspaper of that day 11 August 1908 described: It was 6 am—the scheduled time. People holding flower garlands filled up the front rows of the crowd. Upendranath Sen, the lawyer-journalist of the Bengali news daily "Bengali", who was close to Khudiram, reports having reached the venue by 5 am, in a car with all the necessary funerary arrangements and clothes. -- A. B.